Lulu book deal competition winner

Writing Magazine teamed up with Lulu.com to offer a complete publishing package, including marketing and PR, to one lucky reader in our exclusive competition.

We were looking for a previously unpublished novel manuscript which has obvious mass appeal and deserves to reach a wider audience.

The winner was Ute Manecke, born in southern Germany but now resident in Milton Keynes, where she works as a librarian at the Open University. Ute's book The Snowstorm brings together five disparate characters in a barn during a snowstorm on New Year's Eve and explores their interconnected relationships as they reveal themselves to each other.

Runner-up was Stephen Whitehouse, Birmingham, a nurse and careers advisor, who predominantly writes speculative fiction. His novel Sole Mate tells the story of two people whose love spans 12,000 years and various reincarnations.

Lulu.com will publish Ute's winning book later this year, with full marketing and PR support.